Sunday, 21 August 2011

August Nature Notes...seaside special

Hello Lovelies,
By now I expect most of you are familiar with these posts.This is the eighth monthly post I have written and I'm still loving them. I have noticed and learned so much about our wild flowers and creatures like butterflies this year ,it's becoming a real interest of mine and made me appieciate nature even more.

As usual I will start with the book that inspired me........

Written in 1905 ,here are the Edith's illustrations for August.....

There are not many this month but they are lovely and here are the books interesting facts and folk law ( you can click on any image to enlarge) ...

My own images of nature this month were taken on our holidays. We took the long journey to Cornwall and were very fortunate to end up staying very close to this beach . To say this is a gorgeous spot would be an understatement. I know there are many lovely beaches in this part of north Cornwall but this is the best one we have discovered.

On this particular day we were enjoying a beachy day, British style. ...wind breaks rather than parasols...lots of layers that can go on and off as the weather changes ( me) body boards and wet suits (Mr BM and the boys )
After lunch, while the boys were playing in the sand I made an excuse of popping to the toilet and headed alone for the grassy area you walk through to get to the beach. I had noticed how pretty it was and wanted a closer look.

Like most of the beaches in this hilly area there is a stream draining into the sea and many families with smaller children were enjoying this area at the back of the beach.....this water is actually colder than the sea but lovely and clear........

I leave the beach and head into the grassy area behind it.This is a National Trust beach and though I can find very little on their web site about it, it's obvious this area in particular supports a lot of wild life ......

There are many flowers I'm familiar with like Knapweed.This gorgeous Crocosmia ,a favourite from my own garden ,was growing as a wild flower ......

We saw lots of these lovely flowers growing along the roadside in Cornwall...great swathes of orange that really looked stunning.....

I wander around listening to the sounds of children playing, the roar of the sea in the background and at my feet the crickets (or grasshoppers ) are making that noise that always reminds me of hot Mediterranean days. I did see a couple of these little fellas but they were too quick for me to photograph so I've included a close up of Edith's illustration of a green grasshopper ......

I loved the sunlight reflected in the little stream.....

And I did manage to snap this pretty Gatekeeper Butterfly which had landed on the lovely plant with yellow flowers ...Common Fleabane....

I also loved these pretty Daisy like flowers which some research tells me are Corn Chamomile......

As you can see I was having fun playing around with low angle shots I love the effect of the blurry background and the flowers generally look even better from a bunnies eye view. Speaking of bunnies ,there were loads of rabbit holes in this area too.

It really felt like high summer but there were some signs that autumn is just around the corner. Fruit ripening on the brambles.....

And ferns ( photographed from below) going brown at their tips .....

After visiting the little girls room and buying Mr BM a new body board as he had just managed to snap his old one I headed back to the beach.
At the foot of some pretty impressive sand dunes I was particularly taken with this structural plant....

which I've since learnt is Fennel. It looks stunning close up ....

and the stems were covered in snails !....

Another creature I spotted at the foot of the dunes was this ....

Sorry it's a bit blurry but it moved pretty fast . I haven't seen one of these before and it's very striking .Apparently it's not uncommon ...it's a six spot burnet moth.

I decided to climb over the dunes and was rewarded with this view of the area I had just been exploring...no sign of all the lovely flowers from this distance but it gives a good impression of the landscape ...lots of little hillocks as far as the eye can see.......

As I near the top of the dune I love this glimpse of the turquoise sea and the blue sky with a few fluffy clouds....

A little further you can see the waves ( which were perfect for boarding that day apparently) and some brave people who have climbed the rock at the waters edge ( you might need to enlarge this to see them ).......

Tearing my eyes away from this stunning view and looking down at my feet I was rewarded with spotting Sea Holly.......

And the much maligned Ragwort ...

I know this is very common and poisonous to livestock so generally disliked but I'm sure it has it's place in the eco system supporting many insects . I love this description of Ragwort in my thrifted "Observers book of wild flowers"..........

In this picture you can see just how popular this beach is on a sunny day in the school holidays :0)

Our little camp is amongst this lot so I guess I better go and deliver that body board...maybe I should use it as a sledge and slide down...or maybe not !!

It was definatly a day to remember and I'm glad I've had the chance to record it here .

Jacquie x

Edited to add :: Look what hopped into our conservatory litterally an hour after I published this post.

A stunning grasshopper.I thought seeing this chap was an amazing coincidence after I just posted about failing to get a picture of these creatures.I have never seen a grasshopper in our garden before .

Here it is out side after Mr BM released it ........

Apparently the difference between Grasshoppers and Crickets are crickets can't fly and are nocturnal,grasshoppers can fly and are about both day and night...I saw this one fly so I'm sure as I can be that it's a grasshopper :0)

18 comments:

Lovely post,makes me wish that I could go down to Cornwall this year....looking a bit unlikely though.

We usually go down every year to Sennen, which is a mile away from Lands End - absolutely stunning beach, blue sea, big waves (most days)....ah Im missing the sea here in the land locked East Midlands!

Absolutely lovely post Jacquie, thank you. Love your nature notes each month, I too love learning about our wild surroundings. That beach and coatline is so gorgeous, wild and rugged with such inviting sea. I'm desperate to get down to Cornwall again. xox

My resident snail lover would have been beside herself in excitement (poor snails). The last time I slid down a sand dune was on Fraser Island. Time to plot a return, methinks. Your beachy shots have just brought on a sudden need for summer.

This is becoming more and more familiar, Jacquie. A lot of places by the Portuguese coastline have the same vegetation (fennel can be used for cooking and chamomile is makes a wonderful calming tea)... I definitely have to go there some day! And I'm beginning to understand why so many British people chose Portugal and especially the Algarve for vacations and retirement...Thank you for showing these little (HUGE!) wonders :)xxx

What a beautiful post, such amazing photographs too! Enjoyed my little visit to Cornwall through your pictures and delighted to see that wonderful book - I picked it up myself a couple of months ago at a car boot sale and I love it!